Classic cocktail · Guided recipe
Blue Monday
Start makingFour milliliters of blue curaçao is a coloring decision, not a flavor one. Underneath the shade it is vodka with a little orange liqueur, short and considerably drier than anything that blue has a right to be.
In the glassVodka · Triple sec / Cointreau · Blue curaçao
See exact amounts
What goes in
Ingredients
Set up before you pour
Use a coupe glass.
The stem keeps your hand away from a cold drink, while the rounded bowl makes an up serve easy to sip.
- Standard size
- 200 ml6¾ oz
- Ice & serve
- Chill it first; serve without ice.
- If you don’t own one
- Use a small martini glass or stemmed dessert glass.
- cocktail shaker
- strainer (or a small sieve)
- jigger or measuring spoon
- Vodka60 ml
- Triple sec / Cointreau15 ml
- Blue curaçao4 ml
From bottle to glass
Method
- 01
Measure into the shaker Pour 60 ml vodka into your shaker
Vodka
- 02
Measure into the shaker Add 15 ml triple sec / cointreau
Triple sec / Cointreau
- 03
Measure into the shaker Add 4 ml blue curaçao
Blue curaçao
- 04
Ice the shaker Fill the shaker with ice
- 05
Seal and shake Seal and shake hard
- 06
Strain cleanly Strain into a chilled glass — no ice
- 07
Finish the drink Finish it — add an orange slice
Know your drink
About the Blue Monday
Four dashes of coloring
Blue curaçao is not what the drink originally called for. Printings from the 1930s give vodka and Cointreau tinted with a few dashes of blue vegetable extract, the sort of coloring sold for icing cakes, which added shade and nothing else. Modern versions reach for the liqueur because it is on the shelf anyway, which is why 4 ml is enough here: it stands in for food dye rather than acting as a third ingredient. Both the pop song and the annual saddest-day-of-the-year press release came much later.
Common questions
Blue Monday FAQ
Does the vodka's base grain show through the curaçao?
At 60 ml against 19 of liqueur, yes. Wheat vodkas like Absolut or Ketel One read soft and faintly sweet, which flatters the orange. Rye ones like Belvedere or Sobieski finish peppery and dry, and the drink picks up an edge that suits the coupe. Potato vodka lands fuller and slightly oily.
How do I get a deeper blue without wrecking the taste?
You largely can't, since color comes with sugar attached. Chill the coupe hard first, because a frosted glass reads darker, and check brands before you buy. Dye loads vary noticeably, and one bottle can be twice as intense as another at the same pour.
Sixty milliliters of vodka to nineteen of liqueur — is that too stiff?
That ratio is the whole idea. It puts the drink nearer a flavored Vodka Martini than a party shot, which is why it belongs in a coupe and gets sipped. Take the vodka down to 45 ml if you want something friendlier at the second round.
Will it stain my shaker?
Not the glass or steel, but it will happily mark a plastic jigger, a white towel and your countertop grout. Rinse everything straight away. The dye is the same family used in candy, so it is harmless to drink and stubborn on anything porous.
What ingredients are in a Blue Monday?
A classic Blue Monday calls for 60 ml (2 oz) Vodka, 15 ml (0.5 oz) Triple sec / Cointreau, 4 ml (0.25 oz) Blue curaçao. That single-serve spec scales cleanly — the recipe above converts it to oz and multiplies it for 2–4 drinks.
How strong is a Blue Monday?
A standard Blue Monday is roughly 39% ABV once mixed (before ice melt softens it further). That makes it spirit-forward — closer to a Martini than to a beer, so sip it slowly.
What glass do you serve a Blue Monday in?
Serve a Blue Monday in a chilled coupe glass, well chilled — this drink is served without ice, so a cold glass keeps it cold.
Sharpen the technique
Skills used in this recipe
Where to go next
If you like the Blue Monday, try these.
Blue Lagoon
Vodka and electric-blue curaçao topped with lemonade — bright, sweet and unmistakably blue.
View recipe
Blue Train
Eight milliliters of blue curaçao does the work of a food dye here, set against 15 of real triple sec. So it tastes like a dry gin sour with a lemon backbone and looks like a swimming pool. Buy the curaçao that actually tastes of orange.
View recipe
Blue Moon
A floral pre-Prohibition gin sour coloured with crème de violette — pale lavender, delicate and perfumed.
View recipe